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    ‘The New Look’ Cast Reflects on Chanel and Dior’s History at Premiere

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    Juliette Binoche, Ben Mendelsohn and John Malkovich, stars of a new series set in World War II Paris, discussed French fashion history at the show’s premiere in New York.On Monday evening along Madison Avenue in Manhattan, while fashionistas on the Upper East Side finished their shopping rounds at Dior and Chanel, a crowd headed to the French Institute Alliance Française to attend the premiere of an Apple TV+ series that recounts the origin story of those two fashion houses through the tale of Coco Chanel and Christian Dior’s lives in war-torn Paris during the 1940s.“The New Look,” which starts streaming today, is a period drama that portrays the rivalry between Chanel, who is played by Juliette Binoche, and Dior, who is played by Ben Mendelsohn. The show chronicles how these two figures were shaped by the moral challenges of life in Nazi-occupied Paris and how they managed survival and self-preservation. The war’s effect on Cristóbal Balenciaga, Pierre Balmain and Pierre Cardin is also explored.The series depicts portrays Chanel’s well-documented collaboration with the Nazi party: her use of Aryan laws to try and oust her Jewish business partners, her romance with a high-ranking German officer, and her participation as a secret agent assigned to a covert operation, Modellhut (“model hat”), that tasked her with delivering a message to Winston Churchill. Her younger and striving rival, Dior, resentfully makes evening gowns for the wives of Nazis, while his sister, Catherine, is sent to a concentration camp after her arrest as a resistance fighter.During red-carpet interviews inside the French Institute, the show’s cast reflected on the challenges of playing the characters.Juliette Binoche plays Coco Chanel in the series. “My job as an actor is to show the reality of her life during a dark and dehumanizing time in history,” Ms. Binoche said.A guest at the party wears a Christian Dior hairclip.Darina Al Joundi, the actress.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      ‘Rogue Hostage’ Review: Everything Must Go

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      In this film from Jon Keeyes, violent men take over a giant store. Nearly all the major hostages are connected, but nothing makes sense.The bulk of “Rogue Hostage” takes place during the siege of a Walmart-like store where customers love buying stuff cheaply, the proprietor, Sam Nelson (John Malkovich), smugly notes. It’s the sort of place where you might expect to stumble on a familiar-sounding but possibly imagined movie like “Rogue Hostage” on the DVD rack. The recycling bin would also do.On a day when Sam, who is also a congressman, plans to appear at the store, violent men led by Eagan (Chris Backus) hold the venue and its shoppers hostage, with the seeming goal of getting Sam to confess a crime. The motive isn’t really relevant — or at least the director, Jon Keeyes, and screenwriter, Mickey Solis, treat it that way. The tossed-off explanations for the villains’ behavior don’t add up to much.Nearly all the characters are connected, but nothing makes sense. The trapped customers include the movie’s hero, Kyle (Tyrese Gibson), a former Marine and current officer for child protective services. He happens to be Sam’s stepson, and a foster child he’s worked with, Mikki (Holly Taylor), happens to be a store employee. Mikki spends most of the siege in the security office with her boss, Sunshine (Luna Lauren Velez), who used to tutor Eagan when he was in high school.Even in establishing physical space — it’s hard to figure out how Kyle subdues a man who is abusive to a child or where he hides in the home goods section, or how Sunshine opens a door without detonating a bomb — “Rogue Hostage” is shoddy work.Rogue HostageNot rated. Running time: 1 hour 27 minutes. In theaters and available to rent or buy on Apple TV, Vudu and other streaming platforms and pay TV operators. More